Stuka pilots were among the most recognizable combat aviators of the Second World War, flying the famous Junkers Ju 87 dive bomber in units such as Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann", Sturzkampfgeschwader 3, and Sturzkampfgeschwader 77. Trained to execute steep, highly accurate dive-bombing attacks against enemy troops, fortifications, bridges, shipping, and armored formations, these pilots played a crucial role in the early German victories in Poland, France, the Balkans, and the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa. The Ju 87's distinctive siren, known as the "Jericho-Trompete," was designed to terrorize enemy forces during attack runs, while the aircraft's robust construction and automatic dive-recovery system enabled pilots to conduct precision strikes with remarkable accuracy. Among the most celebrated Stuka pilots were Hans-Ulrich Rudel, the most highly decorated member of the German armed forces and recipient of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes mit Goldenem Eichenlaub, Schwertern und Brillanten, as well as pilots such as Ernst-Siegfried Steen, Elmar Schöner, and Walter Enneccerus, who earned distinctions including the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes and Deutsches Kreuz in Gold for repeated combat achievements. As the war progressed and Allied air superiority increased, Stuka pilots faced growing losses because the Ju 87 was slow and vulnerable to modern fighter aircraft; nevertheless, many continued to operate effectively in close-air-support and anti-tank roles, particularly on the Eastern Front, where experienced crews demonstrated exceptional skill and determination under increasingly difficult combat conditions. Their operations became an important component of German tactical air warfare, and the successes and sacrifices of Stuka pilots remain a significant subject of military aviation history.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Oberst Alfred Druschel (1917-1945) was born on 4 February 1917 in Bindsachsen in the District of Büdingen and joined the Luftwaffe on 1 April 1936, training as a pilot and observer before being posted in August 1938 to Fliegergruppe 20, which became II.(Schl)/Lehrgeschwader 2. He flew the Henschel Hs 123 with 4.(Schl)/LG 2 during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France, later becoming Staffelkapitän of that Staffel in September 1940 and leading Bf 109E fighter-bomber missions over England and the Channel. In April 1941 his unit operated over Yugoslavia and Greece, then from 21 June participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union. On 21 August 1941, as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 2.(Schl)/LG 2, he received the Ritterkreuz after more than 200 sorties and seven aerial victories, notably for destroying eleven tanks south of Grodno on 24 June 1941 and for saving the Ulla bridgehead on 6 July by smashing enemy forces near Lohwsa and Gubiza. When II.(Schl)/LG 2 was redesignated I./Schlachtgeschwader 1 on 13 January 1942 he became Gruppenkommandeur, later rising to Geschwaderkommodore. As Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of I./Schl.G.1 he was awarded the Eichenlaub on 3 September 1942 for over 600 combat missions and successes at Kerch, Sevastopol and in the Caucasus, including the destruction of an ammunition train on the Kharkov-Kupyansk railway on 12 June 1942. The Schwerter followed on 19 February 1943 for more than 700 sorties and the outstanding results of his Gruppe at Voronezh, Rostov, along the Don and at Stalingrad. After further service on the Eastern Front until October 1943 he left active flying to become Inspizient der Tag-Schlachtfliegerverbände, returning in December 1944 as Geschwaderkommodore of Schlachtgeschwader 4. On 1 January 1945 during Unternehmen Bodenplatte he led SG 4, accompanied by Jagdgeschwader 2, in an attack on St Trond but became separated after heavy flak and remains missing south of Aachen; he was officially credited with seven aerial victories in over 800 missions flown mainly in Hs 123, Bf 109E and Fw 190 fighter-bombers and held the final rank of Oberst.
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EICHENLAUBTRÄGER
Generalmajor Oskar Dinort (1901-1965) was one of the Luftwaffe’s most prominent Stuka leaders and later rose to the rank of Generalmajor. A pre-war aviation pioneer, glider record holder, and early Luftwaffe officer, Dinort gained particular distinction as commander of I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann" during the Polish Campaign and subsequently as Geschwaderkommodore of StG 2. His aggressive leadership and the effectiveness of his dive-bomber formations during the campaigns in Poland, France, and the early stages of the air war against Britain led to the award of the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 20 June 1940 while holding the rank of Major and Gruppenkommandeur of I.Gruppe / Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 (StG 2) "Immelmann". Under his command, the Geschwader achieved notable successes against Allied ground forces, shipping, and logistical targets, including the highly effective attack on Convoy OA 178 in July 1940. Dinort’s greatest operational achievement came during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa in June–July 1941, when StG 2, operating under Fliegerkorps VIII, played a decisive role in supporting Army Group Centre during the encirclement battles of Białystok–Minsk and Smolensk. The precision attacks of his Ju 87 units against Soviet troop concentrations, airfields, transport routes, and retreating formations contributed significantly to the rapid German advance and the destruction of large Soviet forces. In recognition of these successes and his outstanding leadership of one of the Luftwaffe’s most effective Stuka formations, Dinort was awarded the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 14 July 1941 as Oberstleutnant, becoming the 21st recipient of the decoration and the first Stuka pilot to receive the Eichenlaub. He remained in command of StG 2 until October 1941, later serving in senior staff and training commands, and also became known for introducing the “Dinort-Stäbe,” an innovation that improved the blast effect of Luftwaffe bombs during operations in Greece and Crete.
Oberst Otto Weiß (1907-1955) was a German Luftwaffe ground-attack aircraft pilot who became the first Schlachtflieger to be awarded the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes with Eichenlaub; after beginning his military career in the police in 1926 and transferring to the Luftwaffe in 1934, he was appointed Gruppenkommandeur of II.(Schlacht)/Lehrgeschwader 2 in September 1939 and, during the Battle of France as Hauptmann, personally directed his unit’s ground-attack operations with Henschel Hs 123 aircraft to repel a major French armored flanking attack near Cambrai, destroying 40 tanks along with numerous trucks and mounted infantry, for which he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 18 May 1940 together with a mention in the Wehrmachtbericht. His continued exceptional leadership and combat successes during the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa on the central Eastern Front, where II.(Schlacht)/Lehrgeschwader 2 fought under VIII. Fliegerkorps and he earned the nickname "Der Löwe von Kalinin" for his actions around Kalinin, resulted in the award of the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941 as Major and Kommandeur of the same unit after 430 sorties, the first such decoration given to a ground-attack pilot. Shortly thereafter he briefly served as the first Geschwaderkommodore of the newly formed Schlachtgeschwader 1 before later commanding experimental anti-tank units and holding higher staff appointments, reaching the rank of Oberst on 1 November 1943 and completing approximately 520 operational sorties by the end of the war.
Generalmajor Hubertus Hitschhold (1912-1966) was an experienced ground-attack pilot in the Luftwaffe who, after joining the Reichswehr in 1930, completing pilot training including secret instruction at Lipetsk in the Soviet Union, and transferring to the newly formed Luftwaffe, rose through the ranks as a Stuka pilot to become Staffelkapitän and then Gruppenkommandeur of I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 2 "Immelmann"; as Hauptmann and Kommandeur of I./StG 2 he led his Gruppe with outstanding success throughout the Westfeldzug, earning the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 July 1940 for the unit’s decisive contributions that included precision attacks on the Belgian forts of Eben-Emael, Pontisse and Flamelle, the destruction of key French positions and artillery batteries near Gembloux which paved the way for the decisive German armoured breakthrough across the Dyle position, repeated strikes against retreating British troops and shipping at Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk and Gravelines that heavily damaged three destroyers, three cruisers and ten transports while accounting for the destruction or severe damage of shipping totalling 164,000 GRT, the elimination of six enemy batteries during the Aisne crossing near Soissons, the halting of an armoured counter-attack in the Nesle-Roye area, the neutralisation of batteries at Vailly-Bourg on the Aisne sector, and further missions against the Marne sector at Château-Thierry and along the Seine. Promoted to Major shortly afterwards, Hitschhold continued to command I./StG 2 through the Luftschlacht um England, the Balkanfeldzug and Unternehmen Merkur; the Gruppe particularly distinguished itself by supporting the breakthrough at the Rupel Pass, attacking the British evacuation fleet in Megara Bay, and during the Crete landings sinking the destroyers HMS Greyhound on 22 May 1941 and HMS Kelly together with HMS Kashmir on 23 May 1941, achievements that, together with the Gruppe’s early successes in Operation Barbarossa, brought him the Eichenlaub zum Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 31 December 1941 as the 57th recipient. He later commanded the Sturzkampffliegerschule 1 in Wertheim, returned to the front in June 1942 as Kommandeur of Schlachtgeschwader 1 where he oversaw its conversion to the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, served as Fliegerführer Sardinien, and from November 1943 as General der Schlachtflieger until the end of the war, by which time he had been promoted to Generalmajor.
Generalmajor Walter Hagen (1897-1963) was a German Luftwaffe officer and highly decorated Stuka pilot who rose from World War I cavalry and naval aviation service to command key dive-bomber formations in the Second World War. Born in Kiel, Hagen volunteered for the Husaren-Regiment 13 in 1915, transferred to pilot training in 1917, and flew with naval aviation units before becoming a Junkers test pilot in the interwar years; he re-entered the Luftwaffe in the 1930s, establishing the carrier-based I./Trägergeschwader 186 (Stuka component) in 1938. As Major and Gruppenkommandeur of the I./186 (later redesignated III./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1), he led his unit through the Polish and French campaigns, where its precision attacks on airfields, bridges, troop concentrations, railway facilities, and an ammunition train near Beaune exemplified the devastating effectiveness of Ju 87 dive-bombers in close air support; for these achievements and the Gruppe’s overall successes, Hagen received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 July 1940. Promoted to Oberstleutnant and appointed Geschwaderkommodore of Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in June 1940, he directed operations over the English Channel, the Balkans, the Mediterranean from bases in Trapani (striking Malta, Tobruk, and naval targets), and then the Eastern Front after June 1941. By late 1940 his Geschwader had sunk 210,000 GRT of Allied shipping and heavily damaged another 306,500 GRT, a record that, together with sustained battlefield impact across multiple theaters, earned him the Eichenlaub (77th award) on 17 February 1942 as Oberstleutnant. Later commands included Fliegerführer roles in Tunisia, Albania, and Kroatien (redesignated Fliegerführer Nord-Balkan), culminating in leadership of the 17. Flieger-Division until war’s end; promoted to Generalmajor on 1 July 1944, he was wounded in a Fi 156 crash in Tunisia in March 1943, mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht, and ultimately released from U.S. captivity in 1947, dying in his native Kiel after a long illness.
Hauptmann Robert-Georg Freiherr von Malapert (1912-1942) was born on 7 August 1912 in Darmstadt, the second of six children of Oberstleutnant Johannes von Malapert-Neufville; after studying mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt from 1932 to 1934 he entered the Wehrmacht in autumn 1934 with Infanterie-Regiment 19, attended the Kriegsschule in Potsdam, transferred to the Luftwaffe as Oberfähnrich in autumn 1936, completed pilot training at the Flugzeugführerschule Salzwedel, and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 April 1937 while posted to I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 165 at Schweinfurt, flying the Henschel Hs 123 and Junkers Ju 87. Promoted Oberleutnant in May 1939, he joined the newly formed I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 at Insterburg and soon became Staffelkapitän, participating in the Polish campaign (where he earned the Eisernes Kreuz 2. Klasse), the Norwegian Campaign and the final stages of the Battle of France (receiving the Eisernes Kreuz 1. Klasse in May 1940); from 9 July 1940 he commanded 5./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, whose Staffel sank approximately 100,000 GRT of Allied shipping in Channel and coastal operations (about 20,000 GRT credited personally to him) before moving to Sicily in February 1941 for attacks on Malta and the British Mediterranean Fleet, then supporting the Balkan campaign and the invasion of Crete. From June 1941 he flew with II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 on the Eastern Front during Operation Barbarossa, advancing from Raczki through Belorussia; for the outstanding performance of his Staffel he became the first German soldier awarded the Deutsches Kreuz in Gold on 15 October 1941, and on 6 January 1942 he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes as Oberleutnant and Staffelkapitän of 5./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 for 315 combat sorties and the Staffel’s successes in the West and Mediterranean. Promoted Hauptmann, he assumed command of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in March 1942; on his 510th mission on 21 May 1942, while attacking a bridge near Moscow from the airfield at Sechtschinskaja, his Ju 87 was hit by Soviet anti-aircraft fire, forcing a crash-landing in no-man’s-land; he and his Bordfunker Oberfeldwebel Otto Mees attempted to reach German lines on foot, but von Malapert was fatally shot by a Soviet sniper just short of safety, while Mees escaped—his body was later recovered by a patrol of Infanterie-Regiment 10 and buried at Sechtschinskaja. Posthumously awarded the Eichenlaub (99th recipient) on 8 June 1942 in recognition of his leadership and total of 510 combat sorties, he remains remembered as one of the early Stuka aces of the Luftwaffe.
Oberst Walter Sigel (1906-1944) was born on 12 January 1906 in Ulm and served as an officer in the Luftwaffe from 1934 until his death, rising to the rank of Oberst; as commanding officer of Sturzkampfgeschwader 76 he led the Junkers Ju 87 demonstration at Neuhammer on 15 August 1939 that became known as the Neuhammer Stuka-Unglück when low cloud caused thirteen other crews to crash fatally while he himself barely pulled out, and on the opening day of the Second World War he directed the German bombers in the attack on Wieluń. He received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 21 July 1940 as Hauptmann and Gruppenkommandeur of I./Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 for the outstanding success of his Gruppe in the Polish campaign and especially in the West, where his personal leadership from the front enabled effective strikes against troop concentrations in the Libramont–Givet area of southern Belgium, the Maginot Line south of Sedan, enemy tanks near Laon, columns near La Fère, St. Quentin, Lens, Arras, Béthune and Amiens, as well as against destroyers southwest of Calais and the harbour of Dunkirk, repeatedly facilitating the advance of German ground forces and repelling armoured counter-attacks. Promoted further, he was awarded the Eichenlaub (116th recipient) on 2 September 1942 as Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Schlachtgeschwader 3 in recognition of his continued command achievements during the air battles over the English Channel, in Greece, over Crete and throughout the North African campaign; Sigel was killed on 8 May 1944 when his aircraft crashed into the Trondheimsfjord in Norway.
Major Johann Zemsky (1909-1942) was born on 11 April 1909 in Vienna as the son of a civil servant and entered the Austrian Bundesheer in 1928 as a non-commissioned officer in the artillery, completing an officer course in 1932 and receiving promotion to Leutnant in 1936 before volunteering for the Luftwaffe after the Anschluss in 1938. By 1939 he served as an Oberleutnant and flying instructor at the Stukaschule in Insterburg, then flew combat missions with Sturzkampfgeschwader 3 against Britain in 1940, earning the Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse on 24 February 1940. On 1 September 1940 he was promoted to Hauptmann and appointed Staffelkapitän of 6./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, distinguishing himself in anti-shipping operations near Crete, Malta and the eastern Mediterranean that brought him the Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse in May 1941. Transferred to the Eastern Front for Operation Barbarossa, he assumed command of II. Gruppe/Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in September 1941 after the death of Hauptmann Anton Keil and led highly successful dive-bomber attacks against ground targets around Bialystok, Minsk, Vitebsk, Gomel, Kiev and Moscow. For completing more than 300 combat sorties he received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 4 February 1942 as Hauptmann und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1. Continuing operations on the southern sector through the battles for Kharkov and toward Stalingrad, where he marked his 500th sortie in July 1942, he was slightly wounded by anti-aircraft shrapnel in June yet remained in command. On 28 August 1942, during his 600th combat mission near Mal-Rosowka in the Battle of Stalingrad, his Ju 87 was shot down by Soviet anti-aircraft fire; although he managed to bail out, his parachute failed to open and he was killed. Posthumously promoted to Major with effect from 1 August 1942, he was awarded the 117th Eichenlaub to the Ritterkreuz on 3 September 1942 as Major und Gruppenkommandeur of II./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1 in recognition of his 600 operational sorties.
Source :
https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_German_World_War_II_ground_attack_aces
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